Absolutely incredible! Are you kidding me?! This series is amazing. I seriously can’t put each book down. And the ending!!! When is the next book?! The twists and turns. Amazing! The sequel was just as good if not better than the first book. I loved the narrators in this book as well. Definitely one of my favorites of the year.
*thank you to NetGalley for an arc of the audiobook.

Long Live the Elf Queen

Plot: 1
Writing: .5
World Building: .5
Characters: 1
Themes: .5
3.5/5

Spice: 1/5

The ending really threw me off! I was NOT expecting that twist. It came out of left field for me.

Honestly, most of this book felt slow and I didn't feel invested in the story or the characters. There were also some really cheesy lines that took me out of the story a few times.

Let's talk about the audiobook. This one is a duet narration, meaning the male narrator says all of the male dialogue for the MMC and the female narrator narrates all of the FMC's lines. I love duet narration and I thought this one was done really well. The bordeaux's narrate Zodiac Academy so I was already familiar with them. They continue to do an exceptional job!

Thank you to Netgalley for the audiobook. This is my honest review.

The second book in The Elf Queen series picks up right from the cliffhanger ending of book 1. Even after being separated and tortured, Layala and Thane are persistent to find a way to be together. The name of the Lightbringer is dawning to come with responsibilities and hard choices. Connected mysteriously to the Black Mage, Layala's decision can change the course of time and this world.

I loved the world-building and scheming aspects of this series right from the start. Though I occasionally felt that Layala's character is becoming very easy to manipulate or dictate. I can literally see people coming in and changing her plans in the blink of an eye. N find her a bit foolish that she falls into the trap and does what they anticipated as her reaction - despite the strong-headed female she is shown to be, it's quite contrasting.

The book comes with a fair amount of disclaimers that I want my audience to be on alert too: #violance #war #steamyromance #moralygrey characters.

Rating: 3/5 ⭐️
Genre: #fantasy #romance #adult

Thanks, @netgalley @authorjmkearl @valorebooks for the digital review copy.

Bridget and Jake Bordeaux did it again! This book narration is absolutely amazing! Plus it’s a duet narration which is my absolute favorite because it makes the story so much realer while listening.
The story picked up straight were we left off in the first book. Layala and Thane are and the first couple chapters are about their fight to get back to each other. I was a little scared that it would be very slow but even though it takes them a while to find each other it isn’t boring. There were a lot of unexpected twists in the story and I really liked the majority of the book. During the middle it was a little slow for me, but the narration made up for it. And the ending!!! I can’t wait to see how the story continues!

**Review will be published on my sites and socials March 14th**

4.5 stars

THAT CLIFFHANGER Y’ALL.

I don’t really mind cliffhangers, even if they cause me high amounts of stress. And this book definitely ended with a wild one that I LOVEEEE. I have no clue where this will go and why and you better believe I’ll be picking up the next book.

Audiobook thoughts: As an ALC wanted to touch base here too. I did love that within this dual narration any feminine characters were by one actor and the male characters by the other. It gave a real life conversation tone to it and made for a positive listening experiences. What I didn’t love was a few of the side characters voices. They were kind of hard to listen to and was grateful when their roles became more minimal so they didn’t show up as often.

Back to the general bookish thoughts. I really like this romance. Luckily there wasn’t a long separation here and we got to see Layala and Thane work together as a couple (my favorite for fantasy romances). There’s just the right amount of spice that works well within the plot and the story moves forward in interesting ways. I liked all of the dragons that showed up. There’s a good amount of action and I’m intrigued by the antagonists and figuring out who belongs on what side.

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy Romance
Language: a little strong
Romance: 2 brief/vague open + mild innuendo
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: near death experiences, weapons violence, magical and physical violence, loss of loved ones, battle themes

I'm currently listening to the audio version of this book and am just already loving it so much! I hated that I had to stop listening to go do actual work, but I'll be finishing up just as soon as I get done.

I'll definitely come back to update/edit for a more complete review once I'm 100% finished.

I got sucked into this book immediately! The narrator were perfect for the characters. I fell into the world and in love with the characters

I finished the audiobook version of this book and it’s actually pretty exciting experience for me! I can do other things while still maintain my reading too! No wonder people obsessed with audiobooks.

Aside from my excitement with audiobooks, this book actually have a really good premise. It’s just too dragging for half of the book. I still enjoy this book, but i don’t really that excited to wait for book 3 even when it’s end in cliffhanger.

The plus side, characters development is just immaculate✨ Every characters has their moment to grow, action packed, world building, THE BANTER!!!!

If you’re kinda in a reading slump, i don’t really recommend this BUT if you’re looking for something fun but also action-mystery-high stakes packed this ome can be your next read!